


Midnight Theatre

by Deonara2012



Category: 2PM (Band), BoA (Musician), Brown-Eyed Girls (Band), Speed (Kpop), Super Junior
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-14
Updated: 2015-03-14
Packaged: 2018-03-17 21:09:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3543854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deonara2012/pseuds/Deonara2012
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Underground rapper meets international pop star, and sparks fly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midnight Theatre

**Author's Note:**

> Not mine, not true.
> 
> I wrote this for [ Camp Nanowrimo](http://campnanowrimo.org/), and sparked by writeworld@tumblr's [ challenge August 2012 ](http://writeworld.tumblr.com/post/28604181091/remember-that-new-challenge-weve-been-promising%20target=). I loved the idea of the whole thing, and jumped at the chance to do it for Camp. The album used is Romeo's "Midnight Theatre", and each section is linked to the song it was written to. JungMin did an amazing job with this album.

[ Act 1 (The Awakening) ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLncMKhcD795X81F1Fu-Qk-R6ZupEYfamx&feature=player_embedded&v=Q2fkTiatiBU)

_Kwon Boa sat down in front of the mirror, the main lights off in her dressing room, her familiar lamp casting a dim light through the dark shade. Her face, made up in dark eyeliner - darker than normal - and red lips looked like someone from a dream or a nightmare. She looked like Titania, her alter ego for this promotion. Usually it helped, as did the blood red poet shirt, the feel of it soft against her skin, the tight black leather pants, the knee high boots she'd pulled on not too long ago. But the feeling of being someone else felt far away tonight, and she didn't have much time to spare to get into character. She closed her eyes, fighting away the images on the back of her eyelids, the bruised face, body crumpled on the broken pavement...._

_She sighed and breathed in, concentrating rather on the feel of her clothes, the screams she could hear, however dimly through the walls, of fans come to see her perform. They became louder, briefly, when the door to her dressing room opened, but it shut again soon enough, and she didn't look to see who had come in. She tried to relax, because she really needed to...._

_Whoever had come in twisted the key in the music box on the table near the door, and the first notes of "Music of the Night" filled the air. "I thought you'd have gotten rid of this."_

_She opened her eyes and stared at the reflection in her mirror of the man behind her. Taewoon held himself stiffly, but he stood, the bruises on his face green at the edges, the swelling gone down. She hadn't seen the bruises, but at least he looked like himself this time. She stood up, balancing easily on high heels, and walked toward him, her black duster brushing against her legs as she moved. "What are you doing here?" she asked, hopefully not sounding too defensive._

_"I didn't want to miss your show," he said, his hands tucked into the front pocket of his hoodie instead of the pockets of his jean jacket (he must have washed it, because she could see no blood on it now). The notes of the music box faded as it wore down, the last notes tinkling to a stop._

_Boa closed her eyes, trying not to see him, wishing she were someone else, anyone else, and this time she felt the odd change in her personality as Titania took over, and she opened her eyes again to look at him. He didn't meet her gaze and she thought, somewhere in the back of her head, how weird that was, because just a minute ago he'd met her eyes without a problem. She got close enough to touch, to feel his warmth, and just tall enough, she leaned closer and kissed him, the briefest brush of lips. His eyes met hers, startled and disbelieving, then she swept past him and out the door._

_It was weird, Boa thought somewhere in the back of her head, Titania smiling at the screams coming from in front of her as she strode toward the stage. For some reason, she'd thought Titania didn't like him._  
   
[ Until the End of Time ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLncMKhcD795X81F1Fu-Qk-R6ZupEYfamx&v=zBI7Mt0y1Vc&feature=player_embedded)

The rush from the performance hadn't faded when Boa came off the stage, grinning wildly at the celebration of the people back stage. It'd been a good show, no question, and they all needed the chance to let out the adrenalin rush. Her roommate's friend, near the back of the room, tried to get Narsha's attention. On the other side of the backstage area, she could see her manager Kangin's pleased expression, and the creepy look she got from his shadow. Jay Park had decided to give up on the singing/rapping/b-boying thing when the netizens blew up at him and he decided to quit 2PM; when he'd come back to Korea nearly a year later, he'd gotten a job at SM to become a manager, and now spent his days shadowing Kangin to learn how. She turned away to go to her dressing room, and shuddered when she felt his eyes on her.

"So, Miryo wants to go out," Narsha said a few minutes later, sounding the odd cross between formal and not so formal she always managed when talking to Boa. "We thought you might want to come?"

Boa pulled her shirt on and turned to Narsha, smiling. "Where are we going, and do we have time to go home and change?"

A whoop sounded behind Narsha, and Boa had to grin. "Yes," Narsha said, rolling her eyes fondly.

It took a while to get back to their apartment, but it didn't take long after that to get ready; after all, they already had hair and makeup done. She had to admit she preferred this short skirt and form-fitting shirt to what she wore on stage as Titania, and in softer colors than blood red and black. "Ready?" she called, and Narsha and Miryo spilled out of the second bedroom, looking ready for anything. Narsha's shirt shimmered with her movements, and Miryo's floated, cloud-like, around her. They looked amazing. 

"Let's go!" Miryo exclaimed, and they left the apartment for the cab waiting downstairs.

"You should really get someone to rap with you," Miryo said a few minutes later, and Narsha rolled her eyes. "Stop it. You know it's true. It'd be amazing." She nibbled on the painted nail of her pointer finger, eyes bright as she looked at Boa.

"Okay," Boa said, a sort of shrug in her voice, "who do you suggest?"

Narsha laughed, sounding startled. "You're considering it?"

"Why not?"

Miryo dropped her hand in her lap. "Oh, in that case... I don't suppose you could get CL to, so what about... Yoon MiRae?"

Boa tilted her head. "She'd be good," she said. "That would be fun, and even working with CL would."

"Or," Miryo added, "you could go with a nobody, an underground rapper. It's totally different there. The music and everything, the attitude."

Boa laughed. "Is that a plug?"

Miryo shook her head, looking scandalized. "No. I'm not good enough. I know some girls, though."

"What makes it so different?"

The cab stopped, and Narsha leaned forward to pay the man. "I think we're about to find out," she said as they all got out.

"Oh?" Boa asked, but no one answered her as they paid the cover and went in.

The club - could she even call it that? - was tiny. People filled the floor almost completely, crowded together in front of a stage so small Boa wondered if anyone had ever fallen off it on accident. Equipment took up half the stage, which wasn't all that high over the crowd. Pounding music killed all chance of conversation, so she didn't mind (appreciated it, even) when Narsha grabbed her wrist and pulled her after them, through the packed people toward the stage. They didn't get far, but far enough to be able to see. They didn't even wait long before someone stepped out on the stage, and cheers went up, nearly deafening even without the music. The song changed, and after a brief musical intro, he started to spit words into the mic he held.

Boa thought she knew music, but this.... Wild, words twisting around, clear enough to understand what he said even with his accent - he wasn't a native Japanese speaker any more than she was - the topic something deeper than love and sex and relationships. Raw, explosive, she wanted more of this, because sometimes what she sang seemed so boring, and she wanted this sort of thing, had imagined it, once. Titania had come from that sort of wish, but she'd become too tamed down in the process.

The wildness lasted two songs, and Boa could feel a familiar let down when whoever-he-was walked off the stage to cheers. She added her own, then turned to Narsha and Miryo and mimed drinking. They both agreed, and they fought their way back out of the crowd.

The bar stood off to one side, nothing fancy, but it had alcohol. Boa got something mild and sipped it, watching for signs of another performer starting. Someone brushed against her, a half-familiar voice asking for a beer, and she turned to look to see the rapper she'd just seen performing. "Hey," she said in Japanese, nudging him. "I liked your set."

He smiled, a dimple in his left cheek flashing at her. It charmed her completely. "Thanks," he said. 

"How long have--" she started, then someone else came on, and she couldn't even hear herself speaking.

He rolled his eyes and tilted his head toward the back hallway. Boa nodded, caught Narsha's attention to tell her where she was going, and followed him down the hallway and out into the back alley. Other people stood out there, talking in low voices, and no one looked at her. Apparently this was normal? She hadn't realized just how warm the club was until the cool night air hit her, and she sighed in relief, half surprised not to smell rotten garbage. In fact, she couldn't see a dumpster anywhere. "It's nice to be able to hear," she said.

"Yes," he said, and then frowned slightly. "You're not native Japanese."

"I'm from Seoul," she admitted.

He laughed. "It's good to hear," he said in Korean, and she laughed as well. "Taewoon, nice to meet you."

"Boa, nice to meet you, too," she said in the same language, grinning, and shook his extended hand. "What brings you to Tokyo?"

"Art school," he said, leaning against the wall of the club. "I'm a student at Daito Bunka. You?"

"Work," Boa said easily. "What sort of art?"

"Drawing, stuff like that. Mostly people, because still life and landscapes bore me." He winked at her.

Boa grinned. "I can understand that," she said. "How long have you been doing that?"

"Art?"

"No," Boa said, and gestured toward the club. "The rapping. It's amazing."

He grinned and took a drink. "A lot longer than I've been here," he said. "It took me a while to get good enough at the language to pull off a good rap, but once I did, it's been fun."

"I bet," Boa said, remembering her first attempts at creating music in Japanese.

She didn't realize how late it'd gotten when Narsha came out of the door to the club some time later. "It's after midnight," she said, and Boa checked her phone, the same phone she'd just put Taewoon's number into. The time hadn't registered.

"You have to go?" Taewoon asked.

"Midnight," Boa said, grinning. "Pumpkins, and all that." She'd long since finished her drink, and so had he. Neither of them had wanted to stop the conversation to brave the noise inside.

He laughed. "It was good to meet you. Be safe. Hope to see you around?"

"Oh," Boa said, grinning at him over her shoulder as she went inside. "I have no doubt."

He smiled, that intriguing dimple flashing at her again, then the door closed.

She followed Narsha and Miryo through the crowd again and out the front door to catch a cab. "You know," she said to Miryo, the exhaustion from the night beginning to catch up to her. "I think you're right. I should get one of these underground rappers to collaborate with."

Miryo preened.

"You look like it was good for you," Narsha said later, while they waited for the elevator in their building. "You look a lot less stressed."

Boa smiled. "It was. Thank you for inviting me."  
   
[ Devil ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLncMKhcD795X81F1Fu-Qk-R6ZupEYfamx&v=Zpxe8scUN3I&feature=player_embedded)

"So, what did he say?" Miryo called from the other room. 

Boa laughed, tucking her phone and her wallet into her clutch. "He said he'll be there," she said.

The last two days had worked out nicely; between recovering from the show and minimal practices at the moment, and occasional texts between herself and Taewoon (and one extended phone conversation), it had all gone smoothly. He didn't seem to mind that they both had things to do, that answers weren't immediate. At least, she hadn't gotten that impression, since he hadn't said a thing about the time between his text and her answer, and she hadn't either, when his answers came back hours after she'd sent him something. It made her feel comfortable, unrushed, and relaxed. Those feelings were in short supply in her life.

Tonight called for a different club, different clothes, and a different attitude. She'd been to this one before, with moderate success in not getting recognized, and she hoped it would remain that way. She liked the way this outfit made her feel, sexy without being too much, and she adjusted the brilliant blue shirt so it only bared one shoulder.

They took a cab again, because she didn't want to drive and because she didn't want anyone to realize she was gone; they were supposed to be staying in tonight. There was too much going on in her head to actually concentrate on driving anyway. Miryo gnawed on her nail again, and Narsha twisted a lock of her hair around her finger, something so familiar that it helped ground Boa and she smiled. Imagine, getting that worked up over a boy. 

The wait to get in didn't even register on her, and they walked past the bouncer with a grin. Lights flashed with the beat, and none of them even tried to sit still. She checked her purse and tucked the claim ticket into the back pocket of her mini-skirt, and then started to look around for the bar. This one had much more than the basics of the place where she'd met Taewoon, but she wasn't looking for something to drink yet. No, but there he stood close to the bar, dimple flashing with his smile, looking nice in dark slacks and a dark green button up shirt that clung, just a bit. Just enough. 

"You are lucky," Miryo said in her ear, and Boa gave her a quick grin before going to join Taewoon at the bar.

He bent down. "You look stunning," he said, his breath brushing her ear. 

She shivered pleasantly, and leaned closer to him. "You do, too," she said. "Shall we dance?"

He laughed, offered her his hand, and tugged her out on the floor. She went willingly, following him through the crowd, and stopped when he did. Music pounded through her shoes, demanding she move her feet, so she did, getting lost in the lights and the music, so different from being on stage. She couldn't let herself go, not completely, but it was enough to have the anonymity of the crowd. 

Taewoon was as close to a perfect dance partner as she could want. When he touched her, to get her attention or for any reason, she didn't feel threatened, and the slow dances... someone had taught him to lead. She didn't think anyone outside of ballroom dancers and those working with entertainment companies could do that anymore. She felt treasured, and she wanted to feel like that more often - because she didn't think he knew who she was. He treasured her for her, not because she was famous, and the sensation was heady.

The night passed in a blur of dancing and a couple of drinks that went down smooth without impairing her at all. They didn't talk, not with words, but when she left hours later, hot and pleasantly exhausted, she felt like they'd had a good conversation, and she wanted another one.

They were quiet in the cab, but Boa couldn't stop smiling. It wasn't often she could find someone like this, and it felt... exhilarating. It must be what normal people went through, how people like Miryo got to date and meet people. Sometimes she felt she missed out on that.

Her phone rang just as she closed the front door behind her, and she got it out of her clutch before she kicked her shoes off. "Hello?"

"I'm afraid I have bad news," said the familiar voice of the Avex liaison. He sounded sad.

"What?" she asked, balanced on the wall, phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder. "What is it?"

"Kangin-san is in the hospital."

Boa straightened abruptly, catching the phone before it fell. "He is? What happened?"

"He collapsed. We aren't sure why, but as soon as the doctors know, they'll tell us. Until he's back, though, Jay-san will take over the duties."

Jay? Did it have to be him? Boa sighed, knowing the answer to that. "Okay. Please, keep me notified about what happens?"

"Of course." The man hung up. 

Boa hung up and put her phone and keys on the table near the entry way. She padded into the main room to find Narsha and Miryo waiting for her.

"What happened?" Narsha asked.

"Kangin's in the hospital," Boa told her, plopping down on the couch. "They don't know what's wrong, and they didn't tell me what happened." She grimaced. "So Jay's in charge now."

Narsha twisted a lock of hair around her finger. "That's going to be fun," she said. "I don't like him."

Boa sighed. "I don't like him either, but he's what we've got. I'll keep after people to figure out what happened, and we'll organize... something." She got up again, wishing she could hit something, but that wasn't going to happen. "I'm going to bed," she said. "See you two in the morning."

What a horrible ending to what had started out as a wonderful night.  
   
[ Sin ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NZfwwqH1cdc&list=PLncMKhcD795X81F1Fu-Qk-R6ZupEYfamx)

The scratch of pencil on paper sounded loud, but then he was right next to it. Taewoon looked up and scowled at his younger brother, sprawled on the decrepit couch in his front room. "Jiho. Would you please stop moving?"

"This is boring, Hyung."

"It's homework. It's supposed to be boring," Taewoon shot back at him, and looked down. "Put your hand back down. I told you to be comfortable."

"Nothing's comfortable when I have to sit here without moving for hours," Jiho grumbled.

"It's been 20 minutes," Taewoon pointed out, trying not to laugh. His phone rang and he picked it up, grinning at the caller ID. "Okay, you can have a break," he said, and answered. "Hello?"

"Hi," Boa said, sounding so tired and out of sorts that he didn't even notice when Jiho escaped the room. "Are you busy?"

"Not really," he said, glancing around. "Why, what's up?"

"It's been a really long day. Can... I mean, would it be okay if I came over there for a while?"

"Sure," he said, before really thinking, and told her his address. 

"Thank you. I'll be there in maybe thirty minutes. Thank you," she repeated, and then said good-bye and hung up. He sat there a minute, and then realized what that meant. There was a WOMAN coming over to his apartment, dump that it was, and he had to get rid of people and clean up in here. He didn't know what she wanted, but...

"Hey! Jungwoo!" Taewoon called, gathering his scattered papers together.

"What?" Jungwoo called back, and leaned against the doorjamb of his room.

"Can you take Jiho out for a while? I've got someone coming over."

"Which means a girl, which means this hot girl you were telling me about, right?"

Taewoon straightened and looked at him, mouth twisted to one side. "Why her, specifically? It could have been a girlfriend from school."

"You wouldn't clear us out for a girlfriend from school," Jiho called from Taewoon's bedroom.

Okay, he couldn't deny that. "Right. So. She'll be here in half an hour, can you guys clear out for at least an hour after that?"

"Only an hour?" Jungwoo teased, but he ducked into his room to grab his jacket. "Come on, Jiho. There's a place not too far from here with food you'll like."

"You buying?"

"Yeah, yeah, come on, I'll take it out on your Hyung after you're gone."

"You could help straighten up," Taewoon pointed out.

"Too late," Jiho said, emerging from Taewoon's room. He pulled a hoodie over his head. "We'll see you around, Hyung. Have a good evening."

Taewoon rolled his eyes but kept clearing things away, gathering his homework and Jungwoo's into piles. That was most of the problem, just clutter, because they had no control over the crappy carpet. He had to make sure to get her slippers, though, because none of them walked on this carpet without some sort of protection. At least the kitchen was clutter free, so he didn't spend any time in there, and it didn't take long to finish up in the main room (he'd have to thank Jungwoo for being so neat someday). Laying Jungwoo's compositions on his desk, Taewoon turned his attention to his own room. He picked up the clothes strewn around the room and dumped them in his hamper - he and Jiho could figure out what belonged to whom later.

He couldn't do much with the desk other than make sure his drawings were hidden, and out of habit he checked to make sure his portfolio hadn't gone anywhere. He fished out the half-done drawing of Jiho and stuck it in there because that's where he kept all his assignments, finished or not, and then leaned it back against the side of his desk. He threw the blankets straight on his bed and then looked around one more time. It wasn't perfect, or pretty, but it was student housing, and that was all he could say about it. He shoved in one errant drawer on the dresser permanently leaning sideways, and then went back to the front room to give it a once over. He spotted the remote on the back of the couch and grabbed it just as the doorbell rang. Setting it carefully on top of the TV - the only thing worth any money at all in this apartment - he went to answer the door.

Boa stood outside in sweats and a t-shirt that looked too big for her, a sweater on top. She'd tied her hair up in a bun on top of her head, and wore sunglasses. The whole thing made her look tiny. "Hey, noona," he said, and stepped back to let her in.

"Hey," she said, sounding weary, and kicked her shoes off. He offered her the slippers, which she slipped on and then followed him into the main room.

"Do you want anything?" he asked. "Something to drink?"

"No, thank you, I'm good." She looked around then smiled at him, but she still looked exhausted. "You said you have roommates. Do you mind if we hide in your room?"

"Not at all," he said, and ushered her in. She glanced around and grimaced - much like he had the first time he'd seen the apartment - and then settled on his bed, feet tucked under her. He took the desk chair and didn't miss the relief that crossed her face. "Is everything okay?"

She reached up to release her hair, letting it fall around her shoulders and face, a curl to it. "My manager is in the hospital," she said shortly. "They think he accidentally ate something spoiled. And his assistant is an ass."

"And that's who you have to deal with now. I hope your manager will be okay," he added.

"Yes, exactly," she said. "They think he'll be okay, but they don't know how long it'll be." She slumped back against the wall, and began to explain exactly how she felt. He didn't follow everything, of course; he had the feeling she left out some things, but he let her. Hopefully he'd understand, hopefully he'd get the chance to. He really hoped this had a future.

Her words slowed and she rubbed her eyes; he turned on the lamp on his desk and got up to turn off the over head light. She smiled. "You don't mind if I just... crash here, do you?"

"No," he said softly. "Go ahead."

She lay down, curled around his pillow, and sighed. "Thanks." Her eyes closed, and within moments, her breathing evened out. He got up long enough to pull a blanket out of his closet and cover her with it, then he sat back down and picked up his sketch book. He'd drawn her enough from memory, and he'd had a hard time not showing how much he fidgeted while she spoke, wanting his pencil and sketch book. But now he could draw, and he did, two or three pictures before his eyelids got too heavy to keep open.

He unrolled Jiho's bed, mentally apologizing to his absent (shouldn't they be back by now?) brother, and fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Someone stepping over him woke him, and he stirred, realizing who it was when the bedroom door eased closed. Taewoon scrambled to his feet and went after her. "Everything okay?" he asked softly, catching her at the door as she finished putting her shoes on.

Boa spun, eyes wide, and then she smiled, and she looked so much better than she had the night before. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

Taewoon shrugged. "Jiho still tries to sneak out," he said. "I'm used to listening for it. You look better. You don't want to stay for breakfast?" But he knew she couldn't, even before she shook her head. Otherwise she wouldn't have tried to sneak out.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure my roommate is worried about me. Thank you for letting me stay." Rising up on tiptoes, she kissed his cheek. "Good morning."

He locked the door behind her, and went back into the main room, one hand on the cheek she'd kissed. At least it hadn't been good-bye, right?

"You are so lost," Jiho said from the couch, sounding sleepily amused. "You didn't sleep with her?"

"She didn't want that," Taewoon said. "Just refuge."

Jiho rolled his eyes. "You're so lost," he repeated, and Taewoon waved him off and went back into his bedroom to make sure none of his sketches were out for someone (Jiho) to find.  
   
[ Tonight's the Night ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD2K_iaiCqU&feature=player_embedded&list=PLncMKhcD795X81F1Fu-Qk-R6ZupEYfamx)

Taewoon's phone buzzed and he snatched it up without dropping his pencil. This time it was words, lyrics in a weird combination of Korean and Japanese characters that no one would make sense of (including, possibly, himself) that came out of his pencil. He was never really sure which would come out when he got the urge to grab pencil and paper. 

_Can we meet somewhere out? Close to you?_

The message brought him up short, and he stared at it a minute before registering who it was. _Sure._ He sent her the address to one of the nicer cafes he knew, and then tucked his sketchpad into his backpack. Nothing special kept him here, and Jiho would be okay for a while as long as Taewoon brought him back something.

_Be there in 20 minutes. Thanks._

"I'll be back, and I'll bring dinner," Taewoon called as he shoved his feet into his shoes. He didn't hear anything from Jiho or Jungwoo before he shut the door behind him.

The cafe wasn't full, thankfully; it rarely was on a Wednesday night, which he'd banked on. It was also a bit more intimate than most places he frequented, with high backed booths, candles on the tables, and discrete waiters. The hostess led him through to some of the more private booths in the back, those he'd never had occasion to use because he'd never wanted to hide from anyone. It didn't surprise him that she did, when he spotted her, because of what she'd talked about the night before. She patted the bench next to her, and he willingly slid in next to her.

She looked comfortable in sweats, her hair up again. "Thank you," she said again.

"You're welcome. Are things better? You look a little less stressed." Less stressed than last night, definitely more than this morning.

"Not really," she said, and then stopped when the waitress came by. She didn't even seem to notice they were crammed together, quietly took their orders, and went away again. "It's been... a really long day."

"You look like you've been busy, though," Taewoon said, trying not to be completely lame and failing. 

Boa smiled. "Oh, yes, I have been that," she said. "No question." She went quiet again, manicured nails tapping gently on the clothed table. Without thinking, he took her hand, wrapping it in his. "Sorry," she said with a slight laugh. "Bother you?"

"Not really," Taewoon said, smiling at her. "But it gives me an excuse to hold your hand."

She laughed, softly, and leaned against him. "I thought I'd tell you exactly what I'm doing here in Japan," she started, and went quiet when the waitress returned, set their drinks down in front of them, and disappeared again.

He thought she might not continue, but before he could even pick up the hot chocolate he'd ordered, she began again, telling him about the album, the concert, Titania, and somewhere in there he realize just who's hand he'd grabbed and still held.

Kwon Boa. As in, the singing sensation from Korea, a woman Jungwoo knew and admired (and went on and on about her voice). One of the most well known people from his home country. Promoting her latest Japanese release, something darker than she'd ever done, and her manager was in the hospital....

He was still trying to come to grips with it when she wound down, and the last thing he wanted to do was freak out. Because, frankly, he still liked her, this noona he'd gotten to meet at the rap club, and the rest... well, it wasn't that important. "Some of the things you said the other night make sense now," he said, and picked up his drink. At least his hand wasn't shaking, and he sipped at it. 

She smiled. "I'm sorry I had to sort of gloss things over."

"I understand now," he said. "I figured you just couldn't talk about it, because of the way it was at work."

She squeezed his hand. "Something like that, yeah. I just... I don't have a lot of time to myself, really, and I wanted you to know why I don't. I like you, I like being around you, and I don't want you to think I'm avoiding you."

Taewoon didn't show how his heart leapt. He hoped. "I like you, too," he said, feeling incredibly lame. "I'm glad you called me."

Boa smiled again, picking up her own drink. "I am, too," she said softly, and drank. "I can't stay long, though, because this new manager really doesn't like me staying out late."

Taewoon shifted a little, turning his whole body to look at her. "Listen, I know I can't offer much, but... if you need anything I can help with, don't hesitate to call, okay?"

He thought he saw tears in her eyes before she looked down, sipping her drink again. "Thank you," she said, her voice wavering just a bit - but enough that he knew he didn't imagine it. "It means a lot to me." 

They sat in silence for a while longer, and he wished he could put his arm around her shoulders. But he didn't dare, and besides, she leaned so comfortably against him that he didn't want to dislodge her. He didn't want her to go, either, but that was impossible.

Her phone chimed, and she straightened. "That's... I have to go," she said regretfully. "I'm sorry."

"You said you had a new curfew," Taewoon said, and carefully got out of the bench to let her out. "Be safe getting back."

She smiled up at him, then gripped his hoodie, pulling him down to kiss him again - but on the lips, a proper kiss, if insanely short. "I'll text you," she whispered, and by the time he'd recovered from the kiss, she'd gotten out of the cafe. He paid the bill and went home in something of a daze, because it wasn't every day he got kissed by a beautiful girl....

But as soon as he got there, he dug out all of his pictures of her, checking every sketchbook he had and his main portfolio, and pulled the pictures of her out of them, gathered together in one place. Now he could see it, see who she was. And how much he liked her.

"What are you doing?"

Taewoon started, surprised, and turned to stare at his brother. "Where did you come from?"

Jiho snorted. "I've been here the whole time, pabo-hyung. What are you doing?"

Taewoon couldn't tell him, and he turned away, putting the pictures in order. "Just... gathering stuff together," he said finally, and pulled out the largest (not thickest) text book he had, his art history book from last semester. Opening it, he tucked the pictures in, one at a time, deep enough that just shaking the book by the binder wouldn't get them free. Then he stuck it back in the pile of old textbooks at the back of his desk. 

"Why?"

"Because I need to. Hungry? it's about dinner time. Sorry I forgot to grab something. Want to order in? Your choice." As he'd hoped, the suggestion distracted Jiho enough, and he didn't bring it up again. 

[ Act II (The Heart) ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzOIstGoyt4&feature=player_embedded&list=PLncMKhcD795X81F1Fu-Qk-R6ZupEYfamx)

Taewoon stood nervously at the door to the venue, heart pounding in his chest, a gift bag in his hand. He really didn't know what he was going to do if he didn't see....

"You must be him," a voice said, and he turned to see a pretty woman in skinny jeans and a large Boa t-shirt, and tried not to flush. "Taewoon, right?"

"Yes, that's me," he said, and smiled. "You're Miryo?"

"Yep! Here, take this and follow me." She held out a VIP pass and he took it, flashing it at the guard nearby, who let him in. "She's in getting her makeup done, so you can leave that for now, and come back after the show, okay? She needs some time to get into character."

"Okay," he said, feeling a bit out of place. This was not something he usually did, not something he'd thought he'd ever do, but.... "It's breakable," he said after a minute.

"I'll make sure she knows," Miryo said, and opened a door to her right. 

He followed her into a small, dimly-lit dressing room, and set his gift down where she gestured. "Thank you," he said. "I'll come back after, then."

She nodded and he went back the way he'd come, tucking the pass into his shirt and showing his ticket to the usher to get to his seat.

He was still a little dazed when he went back after the show, in awe from everything he'd seen, following Miryo back to the dressing room from before. Boa had looked so different, so... strange, something he couldn't actually explain. But then he saw her, looking exhausted, makeup still on and in her last outfit - one of the more normal outfits of the show - and absolutely beautiful. Miryo looked between them and smiled. "I'm going to find Narsha," she said, and left, closing the door behind her.

"You were amazing," he said softly, and she smiled. "Um. I have something for you." He spotted the gift where he'd left it, and picked it up, handing it to her. "Here."

"You didn't have to do that," she said quietly, but took it, carefully opening it. He watched her face as she unwrapped it, more than a little nervous. She carefully lifted it out of the bag, and then smiled, lighting her whole face. "This is Titiania, right?" she asked, clearly delighted with the music box he'd found, a statue of Shakespeare's queen of the fairies.

"Yes. She reminded me of you."

She twisted the key at the front of the statue, and then, impossibly, her smile grew brighter at the song. "Music of the Night," she said, set the music box down, and pulled him into another kiss that left him breathless with surprise. He smiled when she looked at him, but before either of them could say anything more, the door opened again.

"Boa-sshi," a man said, looking suspiciously at Taewoon, "it's time to go."

Boa nodded and gave him a fake smile. "Thank you, Jay-sshi," she said, and bowed to Taewoon. "Thank you," she said softly. "Good night."

"Good night," Taewoon said, and left, wishing he could take her away with him.  
   
[ Lover's Spirit](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&list=PLncMKhcD795X81F1Fu-Qk-R6ZupEYfamx&v=EclTPRiO1Eo)

Boa settled onto her couch and smiled as Taewoon sat next to her. She couldn't get over how lucky she was that he hadn't completely freaked out on her when she'd told him who she was. She'd seen that he hadn't known before then, and it had been a little weird, but extremely gratifying to realize that he really did treasure her for her, not because of her name or her vocal skills. So she'd taken a bit of a chance and invited him to dinner, since she had a day off.

And now she was curious. Narsha and Miryo had teased her, when she'd told them he drew, that she should pose for him nude. Just remembering the conversation made her blush. "Taewoon-ah," she said, trying to cover it, "you said you draw people."

"Yes," he said, smiling. 

"Live models?"

"Sometimes," he said. "Jiho isn't the best at sitting still, honestly." He tilted his head. "Are you good at it?"

"Sitting still?" she asked, hoping he would ask what she wanted. If not, well.... "Yes, I'm good at it."

"Would you mind if I drew you?"

"I wouldn't mind at all," she said, in spite of being in jeans and a large t-shirt. Nothing fancy, but that was okay, too. "As long as I get a copy of it."

He laughed. "I'll give you the picture," he said. "And hope you'll model for me again."

It took a bit to figure out where to put her and how she should sit, but she got comfortable in the corner of the couch and looked out the window. It was pretty out there, the sun going down. Used to not moving much for various reasons, she still had to glance toward him, out of the corner of her eye. He sat on the loveseat facing her, sketchpad on his lap, pencil moving evenly and quickly over the paper. She couldn't see what he drew, only the look of absolute concentration on his face when he looked up.

She'd like to do this again, some time. And maybe... Miryo and Narsha were right.

A knock made them both start, but apparently it didn't make his hand go where he didn't want it, or if it did, he didn't let on. He looked up and smiled, and she got up and went to answer it.

She made the mistake of opening the door without checking the peephole, and could have sworn. "What are you doing here?" she demanded of Jay, keeping her voice down.

"Do you have any idea what you've gotten yourself into?" he demanded, keeping quiet as well, and then pushed his way into the apartment. She closed the door as he took his shoes off. "Did you know he's drawn you? I'm sure I didn't find everything, but look at this! How did he get you sleeping?"

She took the paper and frowned at it, recognizing the pillow under her head, the blanket she'd found over her the morning after she'd slept at Taewoon's house. "Where did you find these?" she asked, following him into her front room.

"It doesn't matter," Jay said, and then came to a stop, and she had to move around him to keep from walking into him.

Taewoon looked up, and she saw exactly when he realized what Jay held. For an instant she thought he'd do something violent. "You must have ripped apart my apartment to find those," he said in a cold voice, something she wouldn't have believed possible. And then his phone rang.

She gathered the pages from Jay's hands while Taewoon answered his phone, and then she looked up at the panicked shouting from the phone. "The door's broken, the room's wrecked. I don't know if anything's even gone it's such a mess. And your room. Taewoon, I swear, I locked the door when we left."

Taewoon glared at Jay. Boa thought he might take out this manager she hated by now. "I'll be right there," he said into the phone. "Call the police, see if they can find something out." He hung up, grabbed his sketchbook from the floor where it'd fallen, and stuffed it into his backpack. "I'm sorry, noona. I have to go. Thank you for dinner." He tried to sound calm, but she knew he wasn't, and she couldn't blame him.

"You're welcome," she said, and handed over his sketches before he could reach for them. He dodged around Jay and his grasping hands, and she heard him leave - he must have taken his shoes with him, not even waiting to put them on.

As soon as the door closed, she turned on Jay. "What was that?" she demanded. "How dare you!"

"How dare I? What do you think would happen if the press found one of those pictures? You don't even know what he drew!" Jay snapped back at her. "It could have been a nude picture!"

"You don't either," she snapped back at him. "You can't make me stop seeing him. He's not going to do anything like that, he wouldn't."

"You don't know that," Jay told her, and then in a move she wouldn't have believed, he snagged her phone from the table where she kept it. "I can stop you, and I will, and I can prove it. Tomorrow night," he went on, sending a text on her phone. "I'll prove what I can do about it. You meet me at my place at 8:00, and I'll show you."

"How?" she demanded, but he just smirked at her and left again, taking her phone with him. He closed the door in her face when she followed him to get it back.

 

Taewoon passed the police on the way in, squeezing past the landlord, who was already working to remove the destroyed door and get a new one on. Jungwoo and Jiho were already picking up when he got in the front room, dropping his backpack on the floor to stare at the wreck.

"Come help," Jungwoo said, and in some sort of a daze Taewoon went to join him to put the sleeper couch back together, wrestling with it to get it back in place. 

Jiho dumped the couch cushions back on top when they were done. "Now I know why you never told me this thing comes out," he said, in a weak attempt at a joke.

Taewoon appreciated it. "Yeah," he said. "What happened?"

Jungwoo picked up the old text books strewn across the floor and went to stick them back under the end table once Jiho picked it up, to even it out. "We got back and the door was broken. I don't know what they were looking for, because the TV is still here, and nothing else in this..." He hesitated, looking toward the door, where they could hear the landlord still working on replacing it. "In this apartment is worth stealing."

Taewoon glanced toward his backpack, feeling guilty, then went and grabbed it. "Well, that's good, if nothing is gone, right?" he asked. "What about your room?"

Jungwoo snorted. "Untouched. I'm sorry, Taewoon. Yours is a complete disaster. There's just.... They must have been looking for something of yours. Do you want some help?"

Taewoon shook his head. "I have Jiho," he said. "Thanks. Check to see if they did anything in the kitchen?" He had to be careful, because he knew there hadn't been a 'they', just a 'he', and he'd gotten what he wanted. 

Jiho followed quietly for once, but that didn't stop Taewoon from swearing in every language he knew (four) when he saw his room. The mattress lay half on the bed frame, blankets hurled in the corner with his clothes from the hamper. Jiho's bed lay haphazard across it, his blankets and pillow with Taewoon's. Jiho's suitcase lay against the wall, a new scratch on the paint proving that it'd been thrown. Almost every text book on his desk lay scattered around the room as if thrown, most facedown and open, pages bent. His art history text book lay open on his desk, the only one not tossed around, and he knew why.

Shaking in anger, he stepped in the room and something crunched under his foot. He looked down and tried not to swear again, because it was just too much. He hadn't noticed that his portfolio no longer leaned against his desk, but he did now, noticed that his drawings and everything in it lay strewn across the floor. Some of it had been creased, and one or two had clear foot prints. The intruder hadn't even taken his shoes off. One of his best pieces was ripped, something he had due in the next week. Teeth set, he began to pick up the pieces he'd worked so hard on, setting them on the desk, and then turned to help Jiho with the beds and bedding and the books. He could hear his brother muttering angrily under his breath, and caught a few words aimed at Boa - even if he didn't know her name.

Taewoon decided not to tell Jiho about the text he'd gotten from her on his way home, requesting he meet her somewhere different. He figured Jiho would try to come up with some good reasons for him not to go, and he wanted to. 

Give Me Your Heart

Boa had never been in Jay Park's apartment, and really didn't care for the experience now. She paced over the dark blue carpet, keeping an eye on Jay when she wasn't looking out the windows over the parking lot, but he stood near the dry bar, sipping something dark and caramel-colored. His saggy jeans and wrinkled t-shirt with some stupid slogan he actually probably understood made a huge contrast to the class of his apartment, and it made her wonder what he even thought was okay. He checked his watch, and then set his glass down and walked toward the window to look down at the parking lot. Then he smiled at her, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to the window, holding her against it. "Now you'll see what I mean," he said in her ear.  
¬  
She struggled against him until she caught sight of movement one story below her and froze. Taewoon walked from the street, jean jacket familiar even in the dim lights. He'd crossed maybe half of the cracked asphalt before more people appeared, converging on him. He slowed to a stop and they seemed to be talking, then he shrugged out of his jacket, tossing it toward the building. She gasped as they all lunged at Taewoon, but he held his own, knocking three of them down before the rest swarmed him, and she lost sight of him in the mass of struggling people. Occasionally one of them would stagger back, but they always went back to the fight.

Jay didn't let her go, obviously watching over her head. "This was easy to set up," he said idly, a chill in his voice letting her know he wanted her to know just how casual this was for him. "I just put it out on the street that an upstart Korean would be here, and they did the rest themselves." 

"Why would you do that?" she demanded, too angry to let any tears fall where he could see them.

"Because aside from the whole drawing thing, you can do so much better," Jay said coldly.

Boa refused to let him know how much this hurt her. The knot below broke up some so she could see better, and her breath caught when she realized Taewoon lay crumpled on the asphalt, the rest of them backing away. One of the thugs leaned down over him, and then they all left, swagger in their steps, high-fiving each other. Laughter came through the glass of the closed window.

"It was easy," Jay repeated, letting her go, his voice colder than before. She didn't move, watching Taewoon pull himself across the parking lot toward his jacket, but then Jay yanked her away from the window to face him. "If you insist on continuing to date him, it'll just get worse. I suggest you put an end to it."

Boa didn't shiver, but it was a near thing. His tone and the manic look in his eyes scared her more than anything else. She shoved past him, grabbed her shoes, and put them on at the top of the stairs, not even willing to stay that long in his apartment. Then she ran down the stairs, her heart breaking. She couldn't let Jay do that to him, not like this....

She brushed her tears away and stepped into the parking lot.  
   
[ Kimio Mamoritai ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb8Q_UG_698&list=PLncMKhcD795X81F1Fu-Qk-R6ZupEYfamx) (I Want to Protect You)

Taewoon wasn't moving anymore, half curled on his right side, his right hand laying outstretched on his jacket. His phone lay loose in his left hand next to his ear, and from it she could hear panicked shouting, most of it someone calling his name. She took a deep breath, willing the tears away, willing Titania forward, because she could handle this better than Boa could. It took a while, without her props and everything, but eventually she calmed, relaxed, and felt... distanced from the whole thing. It helped. Carefully, she picked up the phone from Taewoon's lax hand and pressed it to her ear. "Your friend looks really bad," she told him in Japanese.

The yelling stopped. "Where is he?" He sounded close to tears, but he replied easily in the same language.

She looked up at the street signs not too far away and related the names to him - she didn't know who this was - as she picked up the jean jacket Taewoon had tossed on the ground. "I'll stay here as long as I can, to watch over him, but I don't know how long that will be." She couldn't be there when they arrived.

"Thank you. We'll be there as fast as we can." The name that flashed when she hung up was Kim Jungwoo, and she thought that might be his roommate. Carefully, she lay the jacket over Taewoon, to try to keep him from going into shock, then turned her attention to his phone.

It broke her heart to have to do this, but she deleted everything in his phone that related to her. Her entry in his contacts, the texts she'd sent (especially the one from Jay), the texts he'd sent her. It made her want to cry, though, reading what he'd sent her, and she had to stop and get back into character. She wrote him a quick note, then carefully set the phone back in his hand, brushing his hair from his face. His eye was swollen and would be brilliant purple in the morning. At least he'd be alive. The thought didn't make her feel any better. With a sigh, she retreated to the doorway of the building and let herself in, watching to make sure no one else did anything to him or stole anything from him.

She'd barely gotten comfortable when a taxi pulled up on the street, and two young men piled out of it. They raced to Taewoon, kneeling next to him. She couldn't see well what they did, couldn't hear them, but between them, they picked him up and got him into the taxi. With relief, she watched the taxi pull away, and then emerged, hands shaking as she pressed them together. It wasn't a long walk to the main street, and she caught her own cab there - she wasn't going up to get her phone back, she'd demand it tomorrow - and went back to the apartment she shared with Narsha. 

With luck, neither Narsha nor her friend would be in the main room, and she could retreat to her room and get over this heartbreak without having to mention it to either of them.  
   
[ No Turning Back ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUH5nIeu9OI&list=PLncMKhcD795X81F1Fu-Qk-R6ZupEYfamx)

Taewoon woke slowly, far too aware of the pain to do more than try to open his eyes. The left one didn't open, and it wasn't because of the ice pack on it, either. He could see just well enough in the dimness to recognize his room, and he wondered vaguely just what had happened and how he'd gotten there. He could remember... a touch on his face that hadn't hurt, somehow, after the fight he'd lost. A voice, female, almost familiar but not quite. His jacket over him. His phone... where was his phone?

He found it under his pillow, where he usually kept it. He turned it on by touch, and then struggled to make his right eye focus on the screen. At least his hand worked, if stiffly, so he hadn't broken it in the fight. He'd be able to do his assignments. His first idea was to check to see if he'd gotten a text or anything, but didn't have any new texts or calls. In fact, when he went to check his inbox, he found no trace of her, not even old texts. Concerned now, he checked but found nothing to her in the outbox. That couldn't be right. 

He had to stop a moment to close his eye, rest it some, before he could check his contacts, and he tried to figure out who would have deleted their conversations. After a while, he opened his eye, lifted the phone and checked his contacts. Boa's phone, address, everything he had of her was gone. He didn't want to believe it, but he couldn't deny what he saw. He shut the app down, and something on the main screen caught his eye. He checked the notepad, squinting (but not much, because even that hurt) to see the note there. _I'm sorry. Thank you. Good-bye._ But no explanation for anything, for why she'd wanted to get rid of him in this way, why she hadn't just told him to go away.

Screams came from the front room, the TV up too loud. "Turn it down!" Jiho shouted over it, and it went quieter.

"Spoil sport," Jungwoo said.

The music started and Taewoon realized what it was. He'd forgotten, wrapped up in meeting the actual woman, that Jungwoo had wanted to watch the broadcast of Boa's concert. Taewoon had planned to watch as well, Jiho's protests aside, but obviously that wasn't going to happen tonight. Maybe they'd record it for him? He closed his eyes and relaxed, his phone slipping out of his hand again to rest on his bed next to him, listening. The music was upbeat enough to keep him from falling asleep completely, but he dozed off and on, sore and still worn out. 

Jungwoo swore suddenly, waking him, and under his words, Taewoon could hear Boa talking as Titania. That didn't make sense....

"What's wrong?" Jiho asked, sounding as surprised as Taewoon felt.

"That's who was on the phone. I'd swear it," Jungwoo said.

"What phone?"

"Taewoon's. That's who gave us directions to where he was."

Silence for a minute, then Jiho sighed gustily. "Well, so we know what he was doing there, now," he said. "She probably called him."

Text, but it was close enough. Taewoon couldn't stop the tears that slipped past his closed eyelids and slid down the sides of his heads, and he didn't try. Why hadn't she just told him? He would have stopped, he would have left her alone.... He figured he'd never know the answer.  
   
[ Act III (The Desire) ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9Bb27gs2JY&list=PLncMKhcD795X81F1Fu-Qk-R6ZupEYfamx)

Boa couldn't miss the glances her roommate kept shooting her as they got ready that morning. The last two days had been hell for her, and today didn't look much better. No one asked what happened, thankfully, although Boa suspected Miryo had tried to talk Narsha into it. Boa was glad Narsha was so reticent with her, actually. It meant less problems when things like this happened.

She left the bathroom still twisting her hair up into a knot on top of her head and stopped short in surprise when something caught her eye. She didn't remember bringing the music box home, but there it sat on the table against the wall where she usually put her keys and purse. Her keys and phone sat next to it, in fact - had she put them there last night and just not seen it? Possible - and the sight of it made her heart hurt. She didn't know how injured he'd been, hadn't dared try to find out, but she hoped Taewoon was okay and would go on with his life. She wouldn't get rid of his gift, though, because he'd somehow known her so well....

"Everything okay?" Narsha asked at the same time Boa's phone chimed.

Instead of answering Narsha, Boa picked up the phone and glanced at it. "They're here. Let's go." She shoved her feet into her shoes and headed out for the elevator. At least Narsha didn't push or repeat the question, and they drove in silence to the studio. 

Practice had become a chore, more so than ever before, and she'd started to show it. Boa could see the choreographer's disappointed expression as she struggled through steps that three days ago she'd hit without a problem. He finally called a break and stalked out.

The door didn't have time to close before someone else came in, and Boa smiled, a real smile for the first time since she'd run from Jay's apartment. "Kangin-hyung," she said, and met him before he'd gotten in very far, hugging him. "You're back?"

He laughed and hugged her back. "Yes. I'm glad to see you, too," he said.

Behind him, she caught sight of Jay, and she nodded at Kangin before going back to work, her movements abbreviated as she worked through the choreography at low key, both to keep her muscles from stiffening and because she needed it or she might lose the choreographer if she wasn't careful. She kept her eyes on her own movements, but still couldn't miss the way Jay kept his head down, standing behind Kangin and not looking at anyone.

Kangin, on the other hand, spoke quietly to Narsha, both of them glancing in her direction more than once. Boa ignored them and kept moving, correcting hand placement and everything else until she felt better about it. She grabbed a drink of water, swallowing half the bottle before the choreographer came back in, belligerently determined to get this right. Boa took her place in the center of the room, just as determined to stop dwelling on what she couldn't change - because even if Kangin was back, Jay wasn't gone, and he could still follow through on his threats - and because she had a performance in two days and she really couldn't afford to slack off like this. Her fans deserved better, and she knew she could do better. And she would. It sucked sometimes, but her professional life had to take precedence over her personal life right now.

At the next break, Boa decided that she needed to stop for a minute, grateful that the choreographer hadn't stomped out in frustration this time. She barely noticed that Narsha had her phone in hand when she sank down next to Boa on the couch, at least until her back up dancer nudged her gently. "Hey," she said. "Kangin said to take you out tonight, and Miryo found a place she wants to check out. Want to come?"

Boa stared at her in disbelief, then shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "Let me think about it?"

Narsha nodded, compassion and understanding in her eyes. "Sure," she said.  
   
[ One More Night ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh4uzSns-V0&list=PLncMKhcD795X81F1Fu-Qk-R6ZupEYfamx)

It took them three nights of talking at her and a meeting with Taewoon backstage at the concert two nights ago to get her out of the house like Kangin wanted. She would have gone in jeans and a t-shirt, only Miryo had left a slinky black dress on her bed and threatened her with doom if she didn't come out with it on. Not willing to know what sort of doom Narsha's friend could come up with, Boa had gotten dressed in it, and then of course, makeup and appropriate shoes had followed. It had lifted her spirits.

She still didn't want to be here, even if she fit in with Narsha and Miryo. The music here was hard, driving, and very different from the other places she'd been with them. It felt nice, sort of like she could lose herself in the music, ignore everyone... that idea appealed to her, and so she followed the other two onto the dance floor. The three stuck together through the evening, pausing at one point to get something to drink before going back onto the floor. Awhile after that, she turned in the dancing and nearly stopped dead.

She didn't know how she even spotted him, this young man with a face so like Taewoon's, but she watched him until she realized it couldn't be Taewoon - no way could the bruises have faded that much, no way he could possibly move like that when he'd held himself so stiffly in her dressing room two days ago. Seconds later, one of the spotlights flashed across his face, illuminating it fully, and she let out a breath she didn't know she'd held. His face was too sharp to be Taewoon's... but it could be his brother. She hadn't gotten much of a look at him when he and Jungwoo (right?) had come to pick him up that night she'd pretended to not care, to not be there.

It took maybe two songs for her to slip away from Narsha and Miryo toward this young man - she'd have loved to see Taewoon in this outfit, tight black t-shirt and leather pants - to join him. As she'd hoped, his attention zeroed in on her, and after a couple more songs, he invited her for a drink. 

Seated at a table some distance from the dance floor, she could hear him without him yelling in her ear, if only marginally. "You remind me of someone, Jiho-sshi," she said finally, stirring her drink with pretend casualness. They'd already established their common Korean background.

"Oh?" he asked.

"Yeah. His name was Taewoon."

He laughed, although she barely heard him. "That's my Hyung," he said. "He's never been here, though."

Boa smiled at him. "Neither have I," she said. "Why didn't he come with you?"

Jiho sobered and knocked back the rest of his drink. "He got beat up a few nights ago," he said. "He's not up to dancing. Or doing much of anything." He sounded angry, and she wondered if he'd been furious about Taewoon going to see her.

"But he'll be okay?" she asked, unable to help herself. 

"Yes," Jiho said. "Eventually. Why?"

"It looked so bad...." She said it quietly, then shrugged at his questioning look. "Because he seemed so happy, when I met him," she said. "I just hope it doesn't keep him from getting out, when he recovers."

His gaze on her sharpened. "Hoping to meet him again?"

Boa shook her head. "No," she said, sounding maybe too final. "No, I don't think we will meet again." She touched her glass with his. "Thank you, for the drink and the dance." She got up to go, and he grabbed her wrist. Even that was so close, his hand nearly as big as Taewoon's, and it made her heart flutter a little.

"I should have realized it," he said, standing up as well. "Boa-sshi, you owe him an explanation."

She wished now that she hadn't talked to him, but she wanted to know, more than she could have asked the other night with thousands of fans waiting for her. "And if he doesn't want to talk to me?"

His hand on her wrist tightened even though she hadn't pulled away from him. "You should let him decide."

She knew she shouldn't do this, even as she took a napkin and the pen he handed her after letting go of her wrist, and hesitated. Jay was still around, if much subdued and quiet. He could still.... But if Taewoon wanted to get in touch with her, she couldn't say no. Because in spite of Jay, she liked this boy and wanted him in her life. She could make up a number, could give him something really close, make this so garbled he couldn't read it, a million other things, but.... She stiffened her spine and wrote the number clearly. Damn Jay. She'd explain about him, about the decisions she'd made, and leave it up to Taewoon, what he wanted to do. And explain, too, that she wanted to keep this relationship. Enough of this moping around. This wasn't her, and she was tired of it.

She handed the napkin and pen defiantly back to Jiho. "You text me, call, something, and let me know if he wants to talk to me. Text will work better, frankly. And tell me if he doesn't," she added. "I'd rather know than be left hanging."

He nodded and took it, and she turned away to go and find her friends and lose herself in the music again.  
   
[ Hide and Seek Love ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHCzLXpqYgo&list=PLncMKhcD795X81F1Fu-Qk-R6ZupEYfamx)

"I really think this is stupid," Jiho said.

Taewoon merely looked at him. Jiho had said that already more times than he'd wanted to count, but now Taewoon sort of wished he had. At least it would have eased the tension he felt. "You've said that," he said instead, and Jiho rolled his eyes. "I want to know what she has to say. You said she approached you, so it probably wasn't an accident."

"I still think it's stupid."

Taewoon laughed, incredulous. "You're repeating yourself. It's going to happen, stupid or not."

"Fine," Jiho said. "But I'm not leaving you two alone."

"What?" Someone - Boa - knocked on the door, and Taewoon tensed.

"I'm not leaving you alone. She had you beat up. I don't want to go through that again."

"She's tiny."

"She's in better shape than you are," Jiho said, and got up to answer the door. 

Unable to respond as he'd like and with no time to talk his brother out of it, Taewoon tried to relax. He did want an answer from Boa, but he didn't know if he'd like what he heard.

"Come on in," he heard Jiho said.

"Thank you," Boa said, and he didn't miss how her voice shook, or how his whole body tensed up more.

Seconds later, Jiho came in and leaned against the wall just outside of the hallway, gesturing toward the couch. She came around the corner in jeans and a t-shirt, her hair up in a bun on her head, looking... really good, even without makeup and styled hair. "I'm not leaving," Jiho told her, and she bowed jerkily in his direction before looking at Taewoon. His hand moved almost without his permission and patted the couch next to him.

"How are you doing?" she asked when she sat down, close enough to have a quiet conversation, but too far for an intimate one. He didn't know if it were because of Jiho or for some other reason.

"I'm okay," he said, fumbling for words like he'd never had to do with her. "I'm recovering, and I've got extensions on some of the assignments. At least they didn't break anything important." He flexed his right hand. It was still sore, but not too bad.

Boa flushed. "I'm really sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't send you the message to meet me there. The manager, Jay, stole my phone and sent it to you, and then set the whole thing up. He took my phone so I couldn't warn you...." She swallowed, but he kept his eyes on her face, relieved beyond words. "He told me to break it off or he'd make it worse. But Kangin-hyung is back now." She sighed. "Jay's been reassigned and is going back to Seoul in a couple of days. I'm trying to figure out how to bring charges against him before he goes without getting involved... but I have no proof, other than what you took back from him."

She looked so miserable Taewoon wanted to hug her, but he couldn't do that without hurting himself. He also didn't know if Jiho would stop them, and that would make it worse. "I didn't tell the police about the pictures," he said quietly. "Because I didn't want you to get caught in it. And you would have, because the press would have found out what they were of, and... it would have gotten messy."

"Thank you," Boa said. "I wish it were different, though."

He nodded. They sat in a semi-comfortable silence, and after a short time, she stirred. "I should go. You look a lot better than the last time we met. I'm glad."

"Thank you," he said, and then grabbed her wrist when she started to get up. "Can I... I mean, you gave Jiho your number. Can I call you, or something?"

She sat back down, perched on the edge of the couch, her eyes focused on a point past his shoulder. If she'd glared at him or looked at his hand, he'd have let her go, but he hoped.... It took her so long to meet his eyes again that he'd despaired of her saying yes. "I'd like that," she said, a determined look in her eyes that he didn't quite understand. 

Taewoon smiled at her and she smiled back, gently tugging her wrist free. Surprised, he let her go. "Sorry. Be safe," he said, and she stood up, pressing his shoulder when he would have followed her. 

"I will," she said. "You get better."

She swept past Jiho and he followed her into the hallway to let her out. Taewoon leaned back carefully, the smile still on his face. That had turned out well.  
   
[ Voyage ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJNa4FC1TpM&list=PLncMKhcD795X81F1Fu-Qk-R6ZupEYfamx)

The time just before he performed always made Taewoon nervous, and it didn't help that he hoped Boa would be there. it wasn't so much the superstar that made him nervous, either, although Jiho teased him that was the whole reason. At least Jiho had started teasing him about it, his last days in Japan. She hadn't answered his text, but he knew she had things to do, including a show the next evening. He checked his phone, moving just wrong, and it jolted his still sore ribs. He gasped at the pain. At least that had started to fade and would be gone soon enough. He probably shouldn't be doing this tonight, but he'd said he would, and he felt well enough to rap even if he couldn't move as easily as he normally did.

The hallway leading up to the stage had emptied out quite a bit by the time it was his turn, and he stepped onto the small stage to cheers and whistles. Moving hurt as much as he'd figured, so he didn't do much of it. Still, the rap came out okay, he didn't lose his breath anywhere, and he finished with a flourish that made his ribs burn. He ignored them. It felt amazing, and he thought he could understand why she did what she did, no matter what weird things she ended up doing (like this Titania thing - he hoped to see her live sometime when she'd finished that promotion and could see her as herself).

He made his way carefully through the crowd, thanking the people who congratulated him without mentioning how much the slaps on the back hurt and hiding each wince when someone bumped him too hard. That stopped when the next act went on stage, and he could go a little faster, not interrupted by comments from people. He made it to the bar and leaned against it to try to catch his breath, laughing softly, which didn't help much.

The bartender nudged his elbow with a beer before he'd managed to breath normally, and he looked up in surprise. "From the chick over there," he said, gesturing, and Taewoon straightened to look where he'd pointed.

Boa stood at the other end of the bar, her hair down about her shoulders (the way he liked it), a large gauzy shirt belted at her waist over a tank top and pants that hugged her legs. She waved at him and then turned to a woman next to her. He recognized her, too, as one of the women who'd been with her on stage. The woman smiled and walked off, a strand of hair wound around her finger. Taewoon picked up his beer and made his way over to Boa, smiling broadly. "You made it."

She brushed her fingers across his cheek, over his dimple that didn't always come out, and smiled back at him. "I wouldn't have missed it. I really enjoyed your set."

He laughed softly. "I'd swear you've said that to me already once," he said.

She laughed as well, her hand dropping onto his shoulder, then down his arm to take his hand. "I have a car," she said, leaning closer, more intimate. "Want to go for a drive? The tank's full, we can go forever."

Taewoon set the beer down on the bar behind him, no longer thirsty for it. "That sounds good," he said. "Got a destination in mind?"

"Nope. You?"

He shook his head, still smiling. "I don't even care."

She let his hand go long enough to send a quick text message, then turned her phone off and took his hand again. "Then let's go, before someone tries to stop us." She tugged him after her and he willingly followed her out of the club and to her car, feeling like things might turn out okay.


End file.
